Thursday, March 29, 2012

TIFIE Humanitarian, a Utah-based international charity, has received a grant from DAI (Development Alternatives, Inc.) andUSAID to promote an extensive seed-to-market agriculture program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The $39,000 grant to TIFIE will be used to plant and distribute 32.5 hectares of virus resistant cassava in the Dumi Plateau, a village outclave 140 kilometers east of the capital city of Kinshasa. DAI is utilizing TIFIE’s expertise inagriculture to plant, grow, and harvest this new strain of cassava (anti-Mosaique virus) and distribute it to the local villages.

TIFIE will then teach the villages how to farm cassava and acacia trees in a rotational schedule. After the villages harvest the cassava, TIFIE will purchase the cassava, transform it, add nutrients and then transport the product to the market and sell it, returning profits to the farm for future growth.

The goal of the program is building economies in rural areas through agriculture. TIFIE had the model DAI was looking for. Through its established agriculture programs at its Farm in Dumi, TIFIE had existing community relations, experience training villagers on agriculture work, transportation, and had market presence to sell the product.

“TIFIE Humanitarian is the first organization we have found that has experience in all levels of the "seed to market" model,” said Paul Delucco of DAI. “We see this as a long term partnership and will work with TIFIE to find water solutions and other projects in the DRC in the future.”

TIFIE is currently working to improve food production and climate mitigation by forming voluntary farming associations where members plant and sell cassava for profit. To date, someregions have returned to original levels of cassava production. At any given time TIFIE’s farm in Dumi can easily employ up to 200 people.

“This is an ideal partnership for TIFIE because we have the expertise and have been doing this type of program for three years,” said Robert Workman, founder and CEO of TIFIE Humanitarian.“We are pleased that both our vision and DAI's vision are aligned.”

DAI has been in the DRC for many years and is a consulting firm based in Washington DC which implements USAID funded projects around the world. DAI focuses on fundamental social and economic development problems caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governments, and instability. DAI brings together fresh combinations of expertise and innovation across multiple disciplines—crisis mitigation and stability operations, democratic governance and public sector management, agriculture and agribusiness, water and natural resources management, and energy and climate change.Visit: www.dai.com.

TIFIE Humanitarian is pioneering a new approach to charitable efforts in West Africa by establishing thriving agricultural development farms, medical initiatives, business entities, and successful distribution, transportation and construction services in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For more information: www.tifie.org